Advert for WD & HO Wills, honey-cut tobacco

Smoking was very fashionable in the Victorian period. Tobacco was available in a variety of forms including shag, snuff, cigars, and by the end of the 19th century pre-rolled cigarettes. Henry Overton Wills founded his tobacco manufacturing firm in Salisbury in 1786. He moved to Bristol and went into partnership with Samuel Watkins opening a small shop in Castle Street. WD & HO Wills established a reputation for high quality products, and sold different varieties of cigarettes: their original Bristol brand, as well as ones called Passing Clouds, Three Castles and perhaps one of the most famous cigarette brands of all, Woodbines.